Wichita eagle., 1887-05-17
aw1cH1rA rHE:woNpERFUL."
Governor Martins Impressions and Con
illusions.

illusions.
The following editorial from the Atchi
son Champion, Governor Martins paper, i:
summing up of our chief executive:
views of Wichita from impressions made
upon his mind during the late meeting Of
the Kansas and Missouri Associated Press
Envious papers may depreciate, and rival
towns may sheer at Wichita. and yet, after
all, this Arkansas valley city is wichita,
the Wonderful Its growth is phenome
nal, its prosperity is unbounded, its enter
prise unbounded and aggressive, and its
future bright with the promise of enduring
development. Why Wichita is what it is,
is difficult to explain. Marsh Murdoch will
say that it has superior natural advantages.
but the fact is that there are thousand
sections of land in the Arkansas valley,
many of them planted in corn. that have
lust as many natural advantages as has
Wichita. There are hundred towns IN
that region that are surrounded by country
as fertile, that are equally accessible, and
that had, originally, quite as many and as
good opportunity Of becoming large city
as had Wichita. What, then, is the secret
of this wonderful growth?
In our judgement Wichita is simply the
product of Wichita's people. There is not
a man, woman or child in the place who
does not have full faith in Wichitas future.
They talk Wichita everywhere. Every
thing Wichita has, or does, is in their eyes,
the best. Wichita's newspapers, Wichita
| business houses, Wichitas railroads, WITCH.
| ita's banks, and hotels, and factories. and
housekeeping animate or inanimate
| in Wichita, the Wichita people praise, and
stand by, and are ready TO fight for.
There are, of course, in Wichita as else
| where. rivalries, iealousies and personal
feuds, but they wash all this dirty linen in
private. and, when it comes to anything in
yolying Wichita's welfare all their enmi
ties disappear. Personal interests and in
diyidual benefits must all be subordinated
to the public veal. If, in Wichita, a citi
zen should refuse to SELL at reasonable
prices. any lots he owned, and thereby pre-
vent the building of a hotel, or depot, OF
factory, or retard or prevent any enterprise
or Improvement of value or importance &c
the growth of the city, he would be held
and treated as public enemy:
The writer heard Col. Murdoch tell,
quietly and modestly the story OF his news
paper. the EAGLE, and it was the story OF
Wichita. He began its publication when
Wichita was small village, and from that
day to the present, he had never, ne SAID,
solicited an advertisement. The people OF
Wichita had kept the columns OF the EA-
GLE crowded with advertisements, at the
best rates. without solicitation. When
ever he published an issue containing a
''boom" article, every man in the city
bought extra copies and sent them broad
cast over the east. So the EAGLE had been
able, always, to present Wichita in its best
light, and whatever it said about Wichita
was sure of wide circulation through the
distribution made by the people.
We drove about the city for four hours
through its principal streets and through
its suburbs. Here the massive foundation
walls for the Garfield University were 60
ing up: there was the John Bright Col
lege" of the Quakers; over yonder the
Catholic college; here the Presbyterian col
lege-and to all these great schools Wich
tia has contributed generously. A fine six
story hotel was built by a citizen who had
made his money in Wichita; a large bust
ness block, also built by citizen, 1T was,
everywhere, faith in Wichita exemplified
by a lavish expenditure of money to pro
mote Wichita's growth. >.
So far as the Champion is concerned, ii
reioices In Wichita's prosperity and growth
The city of the Arkansas Valley has fairly
won the triumph it has achieved ii
by the enterprise and energy Of its aggres
sive people; won it by such union OF eff
fort as has rarely been known in any com
munity; won it by standing up and defend
ing everything Wichita has; won it by
sustaining its newspapers generously, and
helping them to spread broadcast the news
of Wichitas growth; and, above all, won ii
by sitting down, hard and suddenly, on
everybody who deprecated Wichita, OF
Wichitas things, or who, acting the part OF
the dog in-themanger, endeavored to pre-
vent OF discourage any one from doing any
thing that would add to Wichita's develop
ment or prosperity.